1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to bottle cap removers or bottle openers and specifically provides a non-slip bottle cap remover for fitting compactly on a key ring with standard keys. In particular the portable bottle cap remover of the present invention provides pry handle and bottle cap removing nose section of thin cross-section for fitting between keys on a key ring as well as an overall length approximately equal to the length of standards keys. In addition, the nose portion includes a pry element that fits within a gap between a bottle top and a bottle cap and a fulcrum element shaped to vary a bottle cap removing pry force over its range of motion.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable bottle cap removing tools or bottle openers are widely known and used to remove malleable bottle caps from beverage bottles and the like. Malleable bottle caps, usually metal, are generally crimped or otherwise formed over the top of a glass bottle to form a gas/liquid seal with the bottle top. In general, metal bottle caps are not removable by hand and require a bottle cap removing tool for prying the cap from the bottle. The removal tool generally allows a user to pry the bottle cap from the bottle top using a hand applied force that is easily applied by the average user. The prying force applied by the removal tool deforms the bottle cap so that it first breaks the seal between the bottle cap and the bottle top and thereafter continues to apply a force to the bottle cap until it becomes completely dislodged from the bottle.
FIG. 1 depicts the configuration of a typical glass beverage bottle top 10 shown in section view. As shown, the bottle top 10 is formed with a circular opening 15 surrounded by an annular rim 20. The annular rim 20 is specifically provided to receive a bottle cap thereon and to form a liquid/gas tight seal with a bottle cap. The rim 20 includes a flat annular top surface 25, surrounding the bottle circular opening 15. The cross-section of the annular rim 20 includes a maximum outside diameter 30 and the bottle top necks down to a local minimum diameter 35 before increasing in cross-section.
FIG. 2 depicts a section view taken through the bottle top 10 and a metal bottle cap 40 installed thereon. As shown, the bottle cap 40 includes a thin circular flat disk shaped top section 45 and an annular lip section 50 extending downwardly therefrom. The inside surface of the flat top section 45 mates with the flat annular top surface 25 of the bottle top to seal the bottle opening 15. The bottle cap annular lip section 50 is crimped over the bottle rim maximum outside diameter 30 and tightly held thereto. As shown in FIG. 2, there is an annular gap 60 formed between an inner diameter of the bottle cap annular rim 50 and the region of the bottle top minimum diameter 35. As is well known, most bottle caps are formed with annular lip section 50 having a scalloped lower edge 55. The scalloping results from the forming process used to shape the bottle cap. As a result of the scalloping the annular gap 60 is not uniform in width but has a width that varies slightly at alternating peaks and valleys of the scalloped edge 55.
In general, bottle cap removers include one or more prying elements that are placed into contact with the lower edge 55, one or more fulcrum elements that are placed into contact with the outside surface of the bottle cap flat top section 45, and a handle element, connecting the prying and fulcrum elements to provide a lever point distal from the fulcrum elements. The lever point provides a mechanical advantage such that a force applied at the distal lever point rotates the bottle cap removing tool causing the prying elements to rotate about a contact point between the fulcrum element and the outside surface of the bottle cap top section 45. As the handle is rotated by the user, the prying elements grip the lower edge 55, and as more force is applied to the handle, the prying elements deform the bottle cap lip 50 to initially break its seal with the bottle and thereafter may further deform the bottle cap lip and the bottle cap top section by continuing to apply a prying force until the bottle cap is free of the bottle rim maximum outside diameter 30. Ideally, the force applied to the handle is generally within the range that can be easily hand applied by a user.
One problem with the portable bottle cap removers of the prior art is that there is a tendency of the prying elements to slip off the lower edge 55. Conventional bottle cap openers are especially susceptible to slipping as the shape of the annular lip section 50 is deformed by the prying force. In particular, it is a common problem with conventional bottle cap removing tools that they slip off the edge 55 before the bottle cap has been sufficiently deformed to remove it. After the tool has slipped off, it is customary for a user to slightly rotate the tool, or the bottle, to reposition the prying elements at a new, undeformed, location on the bottle cap lip section 55 and reapply the prying force to pry another section of the lip 50 away from the bottle. This process may be repeated two or three times before the bottle cap is completely removed. Amazingly, this has been an acceptable practice for a very long time. While many bottle cap openers have solved the problem of slipping by providing spaced apart prying elements that contact the edge 55 at two or more angularly spaced apart points, these devices do not have a thin cross-section and therefore do not fit compactly onto key ring or chain with keys.
Accordingly, there is still a need in the art for a portable bottle cap removing tool that compactly attaches to a key ring or chain, with keys, and that provides non-slip bottle cap removal. One example of a key ring or chain mountable bottle opener is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,600 by Tricenalla. Tricenalla teaches a bottle cap opening tool with a cross-section that compactly attaches to a key ring or chain with keys, however, not as compactly as the bottle opener of the present invention. Specifically, Tricenalle describes the problem that compact bottle openers made from untreated steel are subject to rusting and that bottle openers made from extruded aluminum are damaged by wear and abrasion of the pry surfaces that contact the bottle cap edge 55. To solve these problems Tricenalle teaches a two piece bottle cap opener having a first piece comprising a unitary handle and a fulcrum element formed from a stiff moldable polymeric material, and second piece comprising a metal pry element formed from a wear resistant metal edge gripper plate attached to the unitary handle and fulcrum element. In particular, Tricenalle suggests that the edge gripper plate be formed from wear and rust resistant stainless steel. In addition, the metal edge gripper plate of Tricenalle is shown with an arcate surface matching the radius of a bottle top for better contact with the lower edge 55, and with a tongue notched in the edge gripper plate to allow a front edge of the edge gripper plate to be positioned closely adjacent to the bottle neck. While the bottle cap removing tool taught by Tricenalle readily attaches to a key chain and provides improved gripping and wear resistance, it has the undesirable properties that the molded unitary handle/fulcrum element may require costly mold tooling to manufacture and that the final opener which includes the handle and the edge gripper plate, must be assembled and this adds labor cost to the manufacturing cost of the opener. Another problem with the disclosure of Ticenalle is that the cross-section or thickness, while not specifically given, appears to be much thicker than the cross section of a standard key. In addition, there is no indication given by Tricenalle that the gripper plate fits within the gap 60 and therefore the opener proposed by Tricenalle may also slip off of the lower edge 55 after the initial deformation.
In another example of a bottle cap removing tool for attaching to a key ring, or chain, U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,494 by Waluda discloses a bottle opening cut-out formed in a functional key. According to Waluda, a key includes a head portion, which is held by the user, and a body portion, which is inserted into a lock. Waluda discloses a U-shaped cut out formed in the key head is usable to remove a bottle cap from a bottle, and suggests that a brass or aluminum key will open bottle caps without breaking the key. Moreover, Waluda teaches that a key having an average body length in the range of 28.5–44.5 mm, (1 ⅛–1¾ inches), provides sufficient leverage to remove a bottle cap using the U-shaped cutout. Other examples of keys combined with bottle cap opening elements are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,314,905 by Sard and Des. 89,924 by Schnoor. While these examples of keys that are usable as bottle openers are convenient, there is a problem with the examples because keys are often made of a soft metal, so they can be easily reproduced, and the soft metal key material is readily worn and abraded by a bottle cap. Moreover, the U-shaped cutouts disclosed by Waluda need to be accepted by the key manufacturer and are most economically cut into the key blanks at the time of manufacture. In addition, the U-shaped cutout disclosed by Waluda does not appear to solve the problem that the lifting or prying edge slips off the bottle cap lower edge 55 as soon as the cap begins to be deformed such that two or three prying steps may be need to remove the bottle cap.